A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2007)

Respect to Dir. Wayne Wang for taking on the difficult task of translating Yiyun Li’s prose into a film (Book Review Here); it probably helped that Li did the screenplay herself. Unlike the book, it’s a single story.
After twelve years apart, Mr. Shi (Henry O) flies from Beijing to America to visit his daughter Yilan (Feihong Yu). Whereas Yilan has adapted to the busy US lifestyle, her father is still very much a product of an older China.
The simple but captivating story steps softly through generations and over borders both cultural and personal, leaving a reflective and insightful pathway. A full appreciation requires an understanding that little things can be everything to an individual, and that life always has loose ends.

4½ notepad pages out of 5